Let It Snow
by Firefly119
Summary: Finished He's dating her best friend. She's dating his best friend. Neither can stand the other, but when Lily and James are snowed in together more than just the snow will fall.
1. Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful

**Let It Snow**

_Chapter One: Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful _

Quote: To like and dislike the same things, that is indeed true friendship_.(__ Sallust** (86 BC - 34 BC), The War with Catiline)**_

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**A/N – Okay, well I'm skiing in ****Colorado**** and this idea just came to me. This has absolutely nothing to do with my other fic, FOREVER. Enjoy!**

            Sixteen year old Lilian Dulcia Evans was freezing. Had she not been in a crowd of muggles she would have certainly pulled out her wand and said a simple heating spell. For Lilian Evans was no ordinary girl. She was a witch, a witch who was on winter break from her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the only school of its kind in Britain. However, at the moment, Lilian, or Lily as she was most commonly called, was a long way from home. In fact she had just gotten off a train in Zermatt, Switzerland. She sighed and zipped up her ski coat as high as it could go and looked for the nearest taxi. It was only one in the afternoon, so she didn't expect any of her friends to be at the hotel yet, but thought she might as well go and check in anyway. Snow swirled all around her and with her arms crossed over her chest, she speed walked to the taxi area. 

            Lily, her best friend Adelle and their boyfriends, Sirius and James respectively, were going to spend the last two weeks of their Christmas vacation skiing the Alps. It had been a long battle with their parents, but after each agreed to go home for Christmas first, they were free to spend two whole weeks skiing up a storm. 

Lily grinned as she finally found a taxi and slid into the back seat. "TheSchöne Hütte, please." She said softly. Lily had always been a little shy. In fact, when she first found out she would be traveling alone, she was horrified. She hated speaking to strangers. 

The taxi driver said nothing but pulled the car out of the station's parking lot and onto the street. They rode for nearly ten minutes before the taxi pulled to a stop in front of the Schöne Hütte. It was a huge, stately building, made entirely of gray stone.

 "That'll be** 7 Swiss Francs****, miss." the driver said and waited patiently as Lily counted out the money. "Thank you, miss." He said as she gathered her bags and shut the door. With one last wave he sped off leaving Lily very much alone. She took a deep breath and gathered her courage to speak to lady at the front desk. She only hoped that she spoke English…**

                                                            *****

James Baldwin Potter ran a hand through his already-messy black hair and smiled charmingly at the woman behind the counter. "My name is Potter." He said. "I believe I have a reservation." 

The lady typed furiously into her computer and nodded. "Yes, sir. Mr. Potter. May I see some ID?"

He showed her his passport. 

She nodded. "One room, twin beds, alright?" she asked without looking up as she read off the screen.

He nodded. "That's fine," he said. "My friend should be checking in" He glanced at his watch and tried to remember what time Sirius' train was supposed to come in. "in the next hour or so, so be sure to have an extra key." He said and looked about the hotel as the woman went to fetch the key. It was nice enough, he supposed, but rather sterile for a ski lodge. 

"Here you are, sir." The woman said and handed him his key. "and the elevators are around the corner." She pointed across the lobby to a small hallway.

He stared at her for a moment in confusion. Elevators? Then suddenly it clicked. Elevators were those things that took you up and down. He remembered now. "Oh, yeah, thanks." He said, grabbed the key and walked in the direction she had pointed to. He knew what elevators were, now if he could only remember how to work them…

                                                *****

"Next!" The woman called. Lily stepped up to the counter and took a deep breath. "Name?" The woman asked and stared at Lily scornfully through her glasses. 

"E…Evans." she whispered. 

The woman said nothing and typed it into her computer. "Do you have a reservation?" she asked impatiently

Lily nodded, her stomach sinking. She was supposed to anyway.

The woman typed some more. "Are you sure it's under that name?" 

Lily bit her lip. Now that she thought about it, it probably wasn't under that name. Who made the reservation then? 

"Are you here with a friend?" the lady asked after a moment. 

Lily smiled brightly and nodded. Maybe Adelle had already checked in. 

"British school kid? Rather arrogant, dark hair?" 

Lily grinned and nodded again. That sounded like Adelle alright.

"Well here's your key, then. Your friend already checked in. Elevators are around the corner. The bell boy will take up your bags." She handed Lily her key. "Next!"

Lily took it and sighed inwardly with relief. Thank goodness, Adelle had come early. She grabbed her purse and started towards the elevators. Feeling significantly happier, Lily stepped into the elevator and pressed 12. She grinned as she thought of all the fun they were going to have. She was even whistling as she reached room 1425. She put the key in the lock and turned it eagerly. As she opened the door she could hear the sound of the shower. Lily shook her head and smiled. Adelle had always been ridiculous when it came to personal hygiene. Lily, plopped onto one of the beds, grabbed the nearest controller and flipped on the TV.

_10 minutes later_

James stepped out of the shower and tied the towel around his waist. In the next room he could hear the TV. _Sirius must have gotten in he thought with a shake of his head. Ever since Sirius had started dating Lily in their fourth year, he had been fascinated with everything and anything muggle. In fact, on one trip into the muggle world, Sirius had spent eight hours at the movie theater, seeing a quadruple feature._

"Hey," James said as he stepped out of the bathroom. "How was your-" James stared. Unless Sirius had shrunk a foot and grown red hair, Lily Evans was sitting on his bed. 

"James!" she gasped in horror, her eyes wide. He looked good with his shirt off! She quickly realized she was staring and looked away, blushing deeply.

"What are you _doing_ here?" he cried. Just then his towel started to slip but he caught it deftly with one hand. "How did you…" he was absolutely dumbfounded. 

"You're not Adelle." She said after a moment. 

"No," he said, slightly angry. "No I'm not." What right had she to just bust in here while he was taking a shower. Surely this was invasion of privacy or something. He had never really liked Lily, he'd always thought her rather boring and dull, but then he had never disliked her…till now. 

"I went to check in, they gave me a key." She said, purposely avoiding his eyes but they began to slip lower they shot right back up again, her blush growing even darker. "I…I thought you were Adelle." She added after a minute. 

James sighed. "Well I'm not." He snapped. "I thought we'd already established that."

Lily was so embarrassed that she wanted to die, right then and there. Her lip began to tremble and James, seeing this, softened. "Look." He said. "I'll get changed," if possible her face grew redder. "_in__ the bathroom and then we'll go down and get you your room."  _

As annoyed as he was, he really was a nice guy and knew how shy Lily was. He also knew how badly his ass would get kicked if he wasn't nice to her when Sirius came. James shivered thinking about it.

                                                            *****

"What do you mean, you can't give her that room?" James roared as the lady stared at him stubbornly.

"I mean what I say. Her name is not Adelaide Lamoure. The reservation is under that name, not hers." 

James opened his mouth to say something but though better of it. He shook his head and turned to Lily. "They should be here pretty soon, do you want to hang out until then in my room?" he asked. 

She hesitated, remembering how welcome she was last time.

"I promise I'll stay dressed." He said, with a grin. 

Lily giggled and blushed yet again.

"Your friends are not here yet?" The lady asked, grinning wickedly. 

James shook his head. "but it's only 2:30. The last train isn't until 6." 

"Not tonight." She said. "Didn't you hear? There was an avalanche about half an hour ago, the tracks are absolutely covered. It could be a couple weeks before the train is up and running again and there is no other way into Zermatt." 

"What?" James gasped. "Is everyone alright? Nobody was hurt, right?" 

She shook her head.

"But if Adelle and Sirius aren't coming and I can't get another room…." Lily said and looked from the lady to James. 

James just sighed and shrugged. "It's a good thing I got twin beds, then, huh?" 

_Disclaimer- Okay, for the record I own nobody but Francesco and Adelle. I have never been to __Zermatt__, _Switzerland___ but my parents go once every couple years so I know a little about it. The hotel is completely fictional, so don't go to _Zermatt___ looking for it. Also, as far as I know, the train is the only way into _Zermatt___ but as I have never been there I can't say for certain if an Avalanche is possible or not so for the sake of fiction, it is.  Stay with me, it should get better! Please review. Comments, constructive criticism and flames are welcome._

_REVIEW!!!!___


	2. Since We've No Place to Go

**Let It Snow **

_Chapter Two: Since We've No Place to Go_

Quote:_ The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed. **Carl Jung (1875 - 1961)**_

**a/n**** – Okay first of all I'd like to thank the following people for reviewing: Scarlett*eyes, Star, Liat86, Kaeldra, DaughterofTaliesin, Skirts4camp and Uglinessrox55**

**Everblue3 – I will definitely take that into consideration! Another storm may just be in the works.**

**Kirbee**** – hehe yeah, I agree a little weird but just suspend your disbelief and just say…okay, so the lady's physic. **

**So thanks again to everybody who reviewed and here's the next part, I'm sorry that it's kind of short but I'll try and make the next one longer. Comments, constructive criticism and even flames are welcome (even encouraged) so in other words PLEASE REVIEW!**

**                                                                                                ********

"_Now_ what are we going to do?" Adelle Lamoure whined as the train headed back to the station. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her rather beautiful red lips formed a decided pout. 

Sirius eyed her with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. He shrugged. "How should I know?" he asked, eyebrows raised. 

Adelle glared at him. "Oh, I don't know." She snapped. "I was just saying…" 

Sirius rolled his eyes. He glanced out the window as the mountains passed them by. "Well I guess we should owl our parents." He said with a sigh. He was rather disappointed but what could he do?

"Oh _right, _like I'm going to spend the rest of my vacation with my parents." She said as though he had proposed murder. She tossed her long, curly brown hair over her shoulder for emphasis. 

Sirius put his hands up in defeat. "Alright, alright." He said. "No parents." 

Adelle regained her composure. "Good." She said, and resumed her pout.

"But if we don't owl our parents, where are we going to go?" he asked pointedly.

Adelle grinned evilly. "How much money do you have, Black?" she raised her eyebrows suggestively. 

"Not enough to rent a plane to fly into Zermatt." He snapped and turned back to the window.

Adelle rolled her eyes at his stupidity. "Do you have enough for another hotel room and train ride?"

He turned back, intrigued. "Depends on the hotel. Depends on the train." His eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why?" 

"How do you feel about…" she paused for dramatic affect. "Italy?" she asked, her jaw set.

"What?" his eyes nearly popped out of his sockets. "Are you crazy? We can't go to _Italy."_

Adelle tapped her shoe impatiently. "Why _not?" _

Sirius stared at her. It was just so ridiculous. "Because…Because….Because my parents made me put a spleen on deposit just to go to Switzerland. They would _never_ agree to Italy." He said, shaking his head.

"Who says they have to know?" she asked. "Just think, they probably won't have this mess cleaned up for ages. I heard one of the other passengers talking and last time there was an Avalanche, it took a month to clean up because every time they got a little out, more would fall down the mountain." She paused to point to the mountains outside. They were gigantic and covered with snow. "Besides, we can take a train there. Hang out for a few days and I even brought some floo powder so we can floo back to school. _Nobody has to know." She said, her brown eyes flashing with excitement._

Sirius bit his lip as he thought it over. Suddenly his eyes flashed back towards her. "One catch, Einstein, what about James and Lily? We don't even know if they made it to Zermatt or not and I hardly think they'd appreciate us running off together to Rome."

Adelle snorted. "Don't flatter yourself, Black. You're not my type." She said coolly. "Besides, hasn't it occurred to you by now that James and Lily are most likely stuck together in Zermatt, _alone_?"  

Sirius shifted his weight rather uncomfortably in his chair. It actually hadn't. "We don't know that." He pointed out after a moment. 

"Well, we actually more or less do. They were both supposed to get in before us and our train is the first that couldn't get through." She said. "Don't let it get to you, Sirius. Don't you trust James?" she asked casually. 

She had hit a sore spot. "Of course I trust James!" Sirius said hotly. "It's just…it's just…"

"It's just what?" she asked with a sigh, her patience growing thin. "Look if you trust James than I'm sure he'll trust you and I _know Lily trusts you, so what's the big deal?"_

Sirius hesitated.

"Its either Italy, or mummy and daddy." 

Sirius' eyes flashed, and a smile began to grow as he considered the possibilities. "I'm in!" he cried.

Adelle sat back, satisfied. "I knew you'd see it my way." 

                                                                        *****

James was absolutely astounded. In the six years he had known Lily, he realized that he had never, not even once, had a real conversation with her. Odder still was that she had been dating his best friend for going on two years now and had spent a good deal of time with her because of it and yet, no matter how he stretched his memory, he couldn't remember ever _REALLY_ talking to her. For some reason, in that six years of acquaintance, he had pegged her as boring. Whether that was because she was so quiet in groups it seemed like she had nothing to say or because she hung out with Adelle who could make death seem boring, he didn't know. He snapped back to reality, though, as the waitress approached them to take their order.

"I'll have two eggs over easy and a glass of orange juice." Lily whispered to the waitress. 

The waitress nodded and turned to James. "and you sir?" she asked.

James bit his lip and glanced one last time at the menu before folding it up and handing it to her. "I'll have the same with a side of bacon, please." 

The waitress nodded and walked away after jotting down what he said. 

Lily smiled tentatively at him and he returned it wholeheartedly. "So what runs do want to ski today?" he asked after a moment to break the rather awkward pause. It was their first full day there. 

Lily tucked a piece of her auburn hair behind her ear and licked her lips. "I don't know." She said after a moment.

James shrugged. "Yeah me either." 

Another awkward pause ensued. 

"So what's your best subject?" James asked making another brave stab at conversation. 

"Charms." She said. _Oh good job Lily_, she thought. _Really witty. He was trying to be nice. Why couldn't she think of anything intelligent to say? _

"Mine's-"

"Transfiguration, I know." She said and then blushed at her forwardness. _Good job, Lil. Interrupt him AND make him think you're stalking him_

He raised his eyebrows.

"Sirius is always talking about it and everything." She explained hastily. 

He nodded and waited for the next awkward pause and sure enough it came. 

"So…so Sirius tells me you like art?"  James asked, making one last try at a conversation. 

The affect of this one question was instantaneous. Lily came alive. Her shyness was completely forgotten and her already brilliantly green eyes began to sparkle. "I love art." She said enthusiastically and for the first time since James had met her, in a normal tone too. 

"What kind?" he asked, not so much interested in what she had to say as to the affect it had over her. 

She grinned. "_Every kind! I especially like pottery and painting though…" and suddenly she was off. _

James watched in pure pleasure as she talked like a normal human being and with such passion that it blew him away. He found himself asking question after question about art, a subject he usually hated. James suddenly understood why Sirius made such an effort to learn about muggles, art and pretty much anything else Lily liked. She was hard to get going but once she did, she sucked you along too.

By the end of breakfast James had learned many things, but none so well as the fact the Lilian Evans was many things, boring just wasn't one of them.

                                                            *****

Lily tugged on her black snow pants as she inched forward in the lift line. A rather strong wind blew her unzipped jacket behind her and ruffled her hair. 

"Excuse me." A voice said from behind them. Lily and James turned to see a young woman, a young man and three little children. "The lift only holds two, so could one of you take my daughter up?" the mother asked at looked at Lily hopefully. Lily opened her mouth to volunteer but James beat her to it. 

"Sure thing, ma'am, I'll take her." James said and took the small girl by the hand. 

Lily couldn't believe her eyes. James Potter, quidditch star, prefect, great student, handsome guy, was helping a little girl, without anyone asking him to, onto the lift and chatting with her. 

She had never nailed James as the help-little-girls-without-rewards type. He wasn't the type to go out of his way to do nice things for people, particularly if someone else was willing. _Maybe he thought I wouldn't want to. Lily thought but quickly dismissed it._

 It wasn't that James was a mean guy, actually, he made a point of being exceedingly polite to everybody, it was just that he usually was a little hung up on himself, or so it seemed. 

Then again, he had been awfully nice at breakfast that morning and then here he was again, helping that little girl. It just didn't fit. Sirius was always saying what a good guy he was but Lily had always just shaken her head and smiled. Sirius was always blind when it came to his friends. 

So was how he was acting the real James and he had been pretending for six years, or was that the real James and he was pretending now? Lily shook her head. It was all very confusing. At school he was aloof, arrogant and at times condescending but here…here he was so sweet and, well, normal. 

Lily just sighed and got on the lift. She'd think about it later.

                                                            ******

            a/n – just reminding you to REVIEW!


	3. But the Fire is so Delightful

**Let It Snow**

_Chapter Three: but the Fire's so Delightful_

The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons. **Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882)**

A/N – I just want to say thank you to everyone who reviewed. Midnight goddess, blueskywillow555, crystalshards, uglinessrox55, Tina snape, Scarlett*eyes, Carolinus Took, Emerald Eyez, gnome girl, Liat86, whale girl, Kirbee

Lexi – yeah, I agree, I think so to. I've tried to have them get to know each other here and be more comfortable with each other

Everblue33 – I love your commentaries, they really help me a lot!

Lucinda Luna – Thank you so much for the correction! I thought that was odd, the spelling I mean and I'll be sure to fix it in the future! 

I like this chapter a good deal better than the last and I hope you do too! Don't forget to review!

                                                            *****

Lily pried her eyes open and waited patiently as her blurry vision cleared. What had woken her? She looked across the room and saw James fast asleep in the other bed. She shook her head and turned over. Just as she shut her eyes and began to drift off again, there was a tapping at the window. She sighed, stretched and slowly got out of bed. The tapping grew louder and louder. 

"I'm coming, I'm coming." She called softly and flung the window open. 

A great tawny owl flew through the window, across the room and landed on James. 

"What the hell?" James cried and threw the covers off. The owl was shoved off the bed and hovered in the air, beating his wings furiously. 

Lily held her hand out and the owl soared through the air and landed gently on her hand. 

"Hello there." Lily purred and tugged the envelope from the owl's talons. "James, toss me my change purse." Lily continued to stroke the owl's feathers.

James, who had already curled up in a ball and started to go a back to sleep, groped for the purse on night stand and threw it in her generally direction without even opening his eyes.  

Lily got it deftly in her right hand, poured out its contexts onto the bed and counted out 5 sickles. The owl grasped the money and flew out the window as quickly as it had come. Lily found that she was shivering and went to the window. The second she reached for the window though, she stopped and stared. Snow swirled all around her. She stared out the window, despite the cold and just gazed at the mountains in the distance. The sun was rising behind them and the colors rose around the mountains. 

James groaned from his bed and rolled over. He opened his eyes and was just about to tell Lily to close the goddamn window, when he saw her and his breath left him. She was shivering through her thin night gown against the back drop of the rising sun and the mountains. In the half light, she looked almost supernatural. Her auburn was blown behind her in the wind and the snow whirled around her small figure. 

Lily turned back toward him and grinned. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" 

James nodded. "Yeah," he said sincerely, never taking his eyes off her. "gorgeous." 

Never mind that they were talking about two very different things. 

                                                                                                ******

"What did that owl want?" James asked later that morning as he buckled his ski boot. 

Lily bit her lip as she pushed hard on her own boot buckle. "uh…" she said and then click as the boot buckled. She looked up. "I dunno, he just had an envelope. I didn't open it yet." She grabbed the envelope off the nightstand. "Here, why don't you open it while I buckle my other boot?" She tossed the envelope to him. 

He caught it and nodded. He tore open the envelope and two pieces of parchment fell to the ground. James picked them up and scanned the quickly. "They're from Sirius and Adelle. 

Lily grunted as she pushed one of the buckles down. "Read it." She said and pushed even harder. 

He nodded and began to read.

Lily, (he read)

I hope that this owl will reach you, where ever you are. Adelle and I. I couldn't get through the pass because there was an avalanche. Adelle couldn't either. We didn't want to go back to England, so Adelle suggested we go somewhere else. Now don't freak out, but we're in Italy. 

James paused at this and looked up to see what Lily thought of this. She had stopped messing her boot and was staring at the letter incredulously. She then shook her head and gave a little laugh. "Leave it to Sirius and Adelle. I guess that's what we get for leaving them alone." She giggled good-naturedly and turned back to her boot. James took that as his cue to continue.

If you couldn't make it to Zermatt either, than owl me and I let you know where we're staying and maybe you can come join us!

We haven't found a place to stay yet but its pretty cool here. I'll write you later.

Love,

 "Aww." James said as he read the L-word. Lily blushed brilliantly but hid her red face by bending over her boot. "That's so cute." He smiled as he teased her, but inside, his guts wrenched as a feeling he reluctantly identified as jealousy, flooded him. Unbidden, a memory of that morning flew back to him, but he rid of it as quickly as it had come as he read the signature and was reminded precisely whom had written that L-word. 

Sirius 

No single word in all of history has ever been such a slap in the face to its reader. 

P.S. Not that it matters, but is James with you?

"Someone's a little jealous, huh?" James said and folded up the parchment. 

Lily's blush grew even deeper but this time she had nowhere to hide. "Let's not dissect his every word, k?" she asked and held her hand out to take the parchment.

He withheld it a moment more, though. "How long have you two been saying the l-word?" he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Why does it matter?" she whispered, her shyness returning. 

"It doesn't, I was just wondering." He said, watching her closely. 

She couldn't meet his gaze. "Well than let's just forget it." 

"If it's not a big deal than why can't you tell me?" he asked firmly. 

Lily gathered her courage, but still avoided the intenseness of his gaze. She took a deep breath. "Why do you care?" she asked and tore the parchment from his hands. 

James was taken aback. "I don't." but whether he was convincing her or himself, neither knew.

Before James could say anything else, Lily had grabbed the letter from Adelle and began reading it.

James,

Hey sweetie! Greetings from Italy. It's beautiful here and only a little cold. Sirius and I couldn't get through the pass, you know with the Avalanche and all, so we thought we'd go somewhere else. You're not upset, are you sweetie? I knew you'd understand. Anyway, yesterday we took the train in from Spain, and we're having a great time. We haven't found a hotel yet but we will, don't worry.

Are you in Zermatt? Is Lily? If so, how's the skiing? Are you having fun? If you're not in Zermatt, owl me Jamsie and come on down to Italy. We'll have fun in the sun!! Anyway, If Lily's there, say hello for me and tell her that I'll owl her later.

Adelle

She folded it up and handed it to James. "Here you are." She said, stood up, zipped her coat and started for the door. "Ready?" she asked.

James nodded and grabbed his coat and lift ticket. "Yeah. Let's go."

                                                            *****

"Are you sure this is all we can afford?" Adelle asked staring skeptically and the dilapidated building in front of them. 

Sirius, looking mildly put out at first at the sight of the hotel, nodded enthusiastically.  "Yep!" he said and started towards the building. "That's what the man at the train station said when I told him our budget."

Adelle grabbed his arm and swung him back towards her. "You're positive?" she searched his face for some kind of amusement, hoping to god that it was a joke. 

He nodded. "After that train ride, this is all we can afford." He said and once again started walking towards the hotel. He grabbed Adelle's arm. He grinned at her. "C'mon, it'll be an adventure!" 

"Couldn't we go on a slightly less dirty adventure?" she asked with a wrinkled nose but allowed him to pull her through the front door. 

"This was your idea, Einstein." He said and marched up to an old writing desk behind which an old man sat. 

"How much for a room?" he asked in his rather limited Italian. The man replied and Adelle didn't even pretend to understand. He nodded and said something else, to which the man nodded, grinned widely and looked from Sirius to Adelle with raised eyebrows. 

Adelle didn't speak any Italian but the implication was clear. Had she been easily embarrassed, she would have blushed, but as it was, she was rather angry. She was only made more so as she saw Sirius nod in the affirmative, and accept a single key with an infuriating grin. 

She glared at him suspiciously. He shrugged sheepishly. "He asked if we were newly weds. What else could I say? We couldn't afford two rooms." 

Adelle slapped him playfully. "How do I know that? For all I know, we could have afforded three or four rooms." 

Sirius rolled his eyes. "If you're worried about me taking advantage of you, you shouldn't." he said and nearly stepped through one of the steps. He grasped the banister, which shook under his weight. 

Adelle burst out laughing. "This place is well built, isn't it?" she giggled and side-stepped the hole, Sirius had made.

"Oh, yeah, it's a real palace." He grabbed Adelle by the waist as the wood beneath her feet creaked rather unnaturally. 

"Uh huh, bet you're pretty glad we could only afford one room now." Adelle said and glanced pointedly at the hand on her waist. 

Sirius snorted and quoted Adelle. "Don't flatter yourself, Lamoure. You're not my type." 

Adelle grinned at him. "Touché." 

He removed his hand from her waist to put the key in lock and open the door. The door swung open slowly with a creak. Sirius and Adelle looked inside and looked each other before bursting out in laughter. 

"I guess this is the honey moon suite." Adelle giggled. 

Sirius stared at the rather broken down queen bed at the center of the room and a very old couch in the corner nearest the window. He sighed. "I think I need to work on my Italian, I thought he said two beds." 

Adelle shrugged. "It doesn't matter." She turned and smiled charmingly at Sirius. "You've always liked the couch, right buddy?" 

                                                            *****

Lily made her way very slowly down the run. She wasn't a poor skier but this run was particularly difficult and while the view was breathtaking, the lack of trees made her feel very vulnerable. James had stopped at the top to adjust his boots. She took a deep breath as she skied the last stretch and skidded to stop at the bottom. She turned and faced the steep slope and waited for James to come on down. Sure enough, moments later, he began down rather quickly. Lily had to admire his form, if nothing else. He was an amazing skier. He skied down with quick sharp turns and very precise rhythm. His edges reached nearly ninety degrees as he shifted his weight. He was just about to ski to a stop next to Lily when he caught an edge. He tumbled to the ground and in a matter of seconds, had lost his skis and was sprawled, face down, on the ground at her feet. 

He was lucky that this run was so empty because of the early hour so that none besides Lily witnessed his lovely fall. 

"Oh my god!" she cried. "Are you okay?" she tried to bend down to help him but her skis prevented it. 

He looked up at her, his face covered in snow, looking rather stunned, and nodded. Lily tried her best stifle a giggle, but it slipped out and was followed by a louder giggle and then outright laughter. She undid the bindings of her skis and leaned down, her hand outstretched to James. 

James, a look if indignation in his face, took her hand, and a slow evil grin began to grow. Lily, in her glee, missed this tell-tale smile entirely. James grasped her hand tightly, and seconds later, Lily found herself spread out next to him, her mouth filled with snow. 

She looked over at him, stunned. He tried his best keep a straight face, but as she looked at him some-what angrily, he couldn't help it and burst out laughing. She was mad at first, her pride a little hurt, but then, in a rare show of outgoingness, she grabbed a handful of snow and threw it playfully at it him. 

 "Oh, you want to go, do you?" he asked and made a snowball. She shrieked and got up, trying to run away but her ski boots were hardly good running shoes. She had not gone ten feet, when she had fallen flat on her face. She rolled onto her back and was about to get up when James had tackled her. Lily, giggling madly, could only watch as he put the snow ball on her face and pushed down, slowly spreading the freezing snow all over her face. 

Their eyes locked.

Their faces moved closer.

Their lips almost touched and then…

two skiers whizzed passed them.

And the moment was broken. 

Lily blushed fiercely and James stiffened.

_Adelle_

_Sirius_

James's eyes grew wide and he got off of her. Guilt overwhelming him. _What are you **doing**, James? The altitude shouldn't be making your thinking thin as well as the air. Sirius is your best friend and Adelle is Lily's best friend. Get yourself together. You never even cared that she was alive until a few days ago._

Lily cleared her throat and went to put on her skis, ashamed.  _I'm away from Sirius for a few days and then suddenly I jump on not only the first guy I see, but his best friend. I'm an awful, awful person. How can you be so ungrateful? Sirius is the first guy who ever paid any attention to me, and now, the second another does, my affection switches. I'm a horrible girl. _

                                                            *****

"Are you ready?" Adelle grinned, and raised her eyebrows suggestively. 

Sirius looked up at her from his spot of the couch, paper in hand. "Where are we going?" he asked, noting her rather scanty clothing. 

"Well I'm going out to have a good time and you're going out to pick up chicks." 

Sirius raised his eyebrows doubtfully. "Am I really?"

Adelle smiled. "Yes, we're in Italy, don't you want to go out, have fun? A good looking guy like you." she said elbowing him playfully and gesturing out the window. "We'll go hit up a night club. C'mon," she prodded. "it'll be fun!"

"I'll go but I'm not going to 'pick up chicks'." He said rather firmly.

Adelle furrowed her eyebrows and began to pout. "Why not? I plan to dance the night away. Are you just going to sit and watch me?" 

"What do you mean, why not?" Sirius growled, getting rather annoyed. 

Adelle stared at him for a moment before her features gradually softened. "You really love her, don't you?" She asked softly, watching him.

He looked her dead in the eye and nodded. "More than anything."

                                                                        *****

Lily looked down the slope and her breath caught in her throat. She suddenly felt very weak. She leaned against her pole for support and bit her lip. 

She couldn't do this. It was too hard. The run was the steepest yet with large moguls covering it from top to bottom. 

Next to her, James glanced down eagerly. He loved stuff like this. He looked at Lily excitedly only to see all the color drain out of her face. 

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded slowly, her eyes wide with fear and locked on the snow below. 

"Are you sure?" he watched the horror on her face. 

She turned her head very slowly and gulped but nodded, determined not to seem weak. He watched her carefully for a moment more before nodding himself. 

"If you're sure…" he said reluctantly. 

"Very sure." She said, though her voice was shaking. 

His gaze lingered for a second more before he started quickly down the run. In matter of moments he was half way down and when Lily looked again, he had practically flown to the bottom with a graceful landing. 

Lily gathered her courage and tipped her edges over the side of the slope. Before she even knew what was happening she was plummeting at full speed down the side. She tried desperately to regain control and did one quick turn. Suddenly, she hit a mogul wrong and flew through the air. Her body slammed hard against the packed snow her knee twisted strangely as the bindings came undone and the skis flew from their bindings. 

She lay there for a second, hot tears flowing from her eyes, and her knee throbbing painfully. Once she got her breath back, she sat up slowly, shaking dangerously.

James watched from below in horror. "Lily!" he called. "Are you okay?" 

"I hurt my knee!" she yelled back, her voice cracking slightly. 

"Can you put your weight on it?" he asked, hiding his fear for her. 

Lily stood up and put her weight on her knee gingerly. "Yes but it hurts!" she called down. 

"Okay, you have to ski down Lily, but your nearly there." He called as soothingly as possible. 

Lily shook her head, tears welling up again. "I can't do it, James. I can't!" 

"Yes you can Lily, I promise. Just go as slowly as you can." He counted moguls silently. "Its only five turns or so." 

Lily bit her lip, and her stomach wrenched. 

"I'm right here Lily." 

She took a deep breath and tipped her skis down the mountain and turned very slowly, one turn after another. 

James watched with bated breath.

Two more turns, one more turn, and then there she was, next to him, shaking with silent sobs. Her pulled her into a hug and held her as she sobbed. "You're okay," he whispered. "I've got you, you're fine."

She let him hold her, grateful for the protectiveness of his arms.

A strange thing happened to James as he held her. He suddenly felt a desire to tear down the whole mountain and then…just then… a tingle went through his body that had nothing to do with the cold.

                                                            *****

Lily held the ice on her knee and giggled as James struggled with the fireplace. "I'm really sorry." She said after had finished and sat down opposite her. Lily fiddled with her fork on the table room service had brought up. 

James looked at her strangely. "For what?" he asked and passed her the rolls. 

She took one and placed it on her bread plate. "For making you sit in that hospital with me for so long, for falling, for being such a baby."

James held up his hand to silence her. "First of all, you didn't _make_ me sit in the hospital with you, I wanted to. Second of all, you had every right to be upset and why are you apologizing for _falling_? _That was hardly your fault."_

She shrugged. "Well, thank you." She said after a moment and took the butter from his outstretched hand. "So, have you written Adelle back?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, this morning. Have you written Sirius?"

She nodded. They chatted for the rest of dinner talking of nothing of consequence. Near ten o'clock Lily reached for her crutches and hobbled to bed. "Oh, and James," she said as she slid under the covers.

"Yeah?"

"Six months." She pulled the covers over her.

"What?" he asked. 

"Six months, we've been saying 'I love you' for six months." 

And the light was out.


	4. When We Finally Kiss Goodnight

**Let It Snow**

_Chapter Four: When We Finally Kiss Goodnight _

Quote**-I have discovered that all human evil comes from this; man's being unable to sit still in a room.  Blasise Pascal (1623-1662)**

**a/n – this is AU so none of the order of phoenix counts here. r/r**

"What about the pyramids?"

Sirius stared at her for a moment. He opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it. He shook his head. "Those are in Egypt Adelle, we're in Italy." he reminded her quietly.

Adelle frowned for a minute. "Oh, yeah," she said. "I forgot."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "We could go see a museum or something."

Adelle stood by the window, arms crossed over her chest and scowled at the rain. "I don't see why it has to rain, anyway." 

Sirius shrugged. "Guess the weather knew we were coming."

Adelle whirled and glared at him. "Oh shut up." She said irritably.

"Calm down, will you? There are plenty of things to do in Italy besides complaining about the weather."

Adelle looked at him skeptically. "Like what?"

"We could go see some museums, check out the ruins, we could even go see a movie." Sirius said, trying his best to be patient. He shook his head. He had no idea how James dealt with her. Sure she was beautiful but she was a real pain in the ass some times. If everything wasn't exactly as she wanted all the time, she threw a fit. 

"Oh alright." She said and huffed to the door, grabbing her purse rather violently. 

Sirius checked his annoyance and jogged out after her. If she didn't start behaving herself, she was going to get a huge taste of her own medicine.

                                                *****

Lily stretched leisurely and slowly forced each eye open in turn. The hotel room was flooded with light and she grinned. She glanced across the room to see James's bed vacant and with a puzzled expression, got out of bed. Where had he gone? She shook her head and reached for her crutches. 

Just then, the door opened and there was James, a cup holder with two Styrofoam cups in one hand and a white paper bag in the other. 

"Hey." She said sleepily and yawned. "Where'd you go?" she asked, smiling at him affectionately. 

He set the bag on the bathroom counter and took the cups out of the holder. 

"Breakfast." He handed her one of the cups and then the bag. 

Lily grinned, delighted at the surprise. "Oh, what?" she opened the bag eagerly to find two doughnuts and two muffins. She looked up at him with the grateful smile. "Thank you, James. This is really sweet."

He blushed but seemed pleased by her praise. She handed him the bag with the remaining muffin and doughnuts.

"So what time are you heading out?" she asked and took a bite out of her muffin.

James went for his doughnut first. "Out?" he asked, confused. 

"Yeah, to the slopes." 

He stared at her for a moment. "But we're not skiing today." He said.

Lily furrowed her brows. "Why not?" she asked incredulously.

James gave a small laugh. "Because you hurt your knee, remember?" he shook his head and turned back to his doughnut. 

Lily didn't move her green eyes from his face. "So, that doesn't mean _you _can't ski." She said.

James shrugged. "Yeah, I know, but I don't really feel like skiing today, anyway. I'm tired." James knew the second the words were out of his mouth, he was in trouble. _What are you doing? Okay, keep calm, it's not that big of a deal. You're just her friend and you skied every day this week anyway. There's no harm in staying home one day. It doesn't mean anything. What if she thinks I'm trying to put the moves on her? What if I **am** trying to put the moves on her? Oh god, what if Sirius finds out? Even if he does, what's there to find out, nothing happened…yet. Jesus Christ James! What the hell is the matter with you? She's your best friend's girl, she's your best friend's girl, she looks pretty hot, ahhh! Ahh! SHE'S YOUR BEST FRIEND'S GIRL Okay, okay, just cool it…_

Lily couldn't help noticing that his eyes had suddenly become very interested in the carpet and his cheeks had suddenly turned rather red. She hid a smile behind her hand but said nothing. _What does this mean? What is he trying to pull? **Is** he trying to do something. You're reading **way** too muchinto this, lil. It's not a big deal he just feels sorry for you. Actually he's not even staying for you. He's tired, yeah, that's it, he's tired. Okay, he's staying so what? Do I even want him to stay?...Omg I do! How much longer is this vacation. Not long enough. LILY!!! Think of Sirius. You owe him your loyalty at the very least. He has always been there for you…why are you even thinking about this? Nothing has happened. Okay, its going to be fine, nothing is going on. Just keep cool._

James preferred it that way. He knew he what he was doing, he knew that she knew what he was doing, but for the first time all week, he didn't care…and she didn't seem to be protesting. 

                                                                        *****

"You want to go where?" Sirius asked, his eyebrows so high they nearly blended in with his hair. 

Adelle threw a rather scornful look at him before turning back to her compact. She smoothed her lipgloss with the tip of her finger and shut the compact with a rather dramatic snap. "The disotech."

He continued to stare at her incredulously. "Riiiiight." He said finally.

"Oh come on, Sirius. I never knew you to turn down a good time." She said and began walking towards the nearest sculpture. Outside the rain fell softly on the granite and the museum was poorly lit. 

"And what on earth has that to do with a disotech?" Sirius asked, reluctantly following her to the next piece of artwork.

"Look, you wanted to get of the room, we're out. You wanted me to give ideas, I'm giving. You're just too hard to please." Adelle said, whirling around, her brown curls never leaving their perfect position.

Sirius knew in a vague sort of way that he was being manipulated, but he wasn't quite sure how to respond to it. "Yea….well I didn't mean a _discotech_! Adelle that's totally lame." 

"It won't be, I promise!" Adelle pleaded sweetly, changing tactics as she saw him begin to cave. "Besides you liked the club we went to last night." She added pouting  with her big beautiful brown eyes until he finally shrugged. 

"Yeah…okay…but muggle music is really awful." He gave in. 

Adelle grinned. "Yeah…but the men aren't" She winked at him, and before he could say another word,  she headed towards the exit. 

                                                                        *****

"Ohhh! Let's go in here!" Lily cried and limped into the nearest store. James, carrying about thirteen bags slumped in after her. 

"Hey you move pretty fast for a cripple." James gasped and unloaded the bags onto an armchair in the entrance. When Lily didn't respond, he tuned back from the bags and walked fully into the store, getting a good look for the first time. "Whoa." He said. 

The store was filled with, as far as James could tell, room after room after of handmade dolls. James had never played with dolls, and beyond as way to placate young girls he didn't really have a whole lot of use for them, but even he could admit that these dolls were beautiful.

"Aren't they incredible?" Lily asked as she softly touched a doll about sixteen inches in height with blue eyes that were so real they gave James goose bumps. 

"Yeah." He said, but his attention was soon diverted by a scream from a little girl who was begging her mother for a doll. 

**_"Mum! I gotta have it, I just gotta. Everyone else has one…please?" Six year-old James Potter begged his mother as they passed the, latest broom, the  StarStruck500. _**

****

**_"James Potter, do you have any idea how much those things cost? Besides, they're much too dangerous for children." His mother said, grasping firmly onto his hands and pulling him from the display. _**

****

**_"But Dad has one!" James said resisting his mother's pull for one last glimpse at the glittering broomstick. "And so does Benjamin Prewett and he's only one year older than me."_**

****

**_"You're father is a grown man and as for Benjamin Prewett, his parents have always been very unorthodox." Eleanor Potter shook her head darkly._**

****

**_"But mum-"_**

****

**_"That's _enough _James! Now come in here with me, we have to get your father some more dragon root." His mother said and dragged him into the store. _**

****

**_James watched the  broom out of the corner of his eye until finally, the door closed behind him. _**

James shook his head. _Let it go James….let it go. It was a long time ago. You're past all this. _

"Are you okay?" Lily asked, her head tilted to the side in concern. "You've been staring at that woman for ages. You look like you're going to cry." 

James blushed and laughed nervously. "Yeah I'm fine…strange thought." He mananged a smile. 

"Are you sure?" Lily asked, looking very unconvinced. 

James nodded and swallowed. "Yeah…fine." It'd been ages since he had thought about his parents at all and even longer since he'd been so affected by them. 

"Well, if you're okay, want to catch some lunch?" Lily asked after a moment.   
  


James nodded, gratefulf for the change in subject. 

They went to a nearby café and settled down happily inside, where a roaring fire and small tables gave a the place a rather cozy feel. 

"I wonder how Sirius and Adelle are." Lily said as she settled into her chair. 

James shrugged. "Fine I'm sure." He said. "Though they won't be if Sirius' parents find out." He grinned at the thought.

"Yeah, they're pieces of work aren't they?" Lily said rolling her eyes. "They nearly had a heart attack when they met me, and his brother isn't too keen on me either." 

"Don't worry about it." James said firmly, "They're just ridiculous." 

"My parents are pretty ridiculous too." Lily said after a moment. 

"As bad as Sirius'?" James asked and motioned to the waitress for another cup of coffee. 

"They're not evil, James, just strict. I had to pledge my life to come here. They weren't going to let me at first, until I told them I was going with students from Hogwarts. They're obsessed with magic." She said and took a large gulp of her Hot Cider. 

"They're muggles, right?" he asked, trying, and failing to see Lily Evans as a muggle. Even in room filled with muggle, there was something rather brilliant about her, as though she might burst at any moment. 

Lily nodded. "What about your parents, strict?" 

James shifted in his chair uncomfortably. "Actually they're, uh, they're dead."  A rather loud silence followed. 

Lily had never felt more ridiculoud in her entire life. How could she not have known that? Hogwarts wasn't a big school and she was dating his best friend. "I'm…er…I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "It's okay." He said, and for the first time in three years, he meant it.  "It happened a while ago." 

Lily looked him in the eye and no longer saw arrogance, she saw something else, something completely different.

In that moment, a moment that was perhaps inpossible and certainly inexpicable, Lily understood James. Even for only  a fraction of a second. She remembered when James and Sirius had become rather wild in their third year. She saw why he chose to date girls like Adelle, which required very little if any intimacy. She saw why he distanced himself from everybody else. It all came together and it was in that moment, where she saw not only his pain, but his triumphs and and his potential that Lily loved him. She loved him differently that she had ever loved anybody else. She felt for him in a way she could never, had never, felt for anybody else. And she was terrified. 

                                                            *****

"Hey this is kind of fun!" Sirius yelled through the crowded discotech and the flashing lights. 

"What?" Adelle yelled back. 

"THIS IS KIND OF FUN!" he yelled into her ear. 

Adelle paused for a minute before nodding enthusiastically. The song changed and the dove in the crowd, dancing their hearts out. 

                                                            *****

"Let me help you with that." James said that night back in the room as Lily struggled to lift some of the wood into the fire place. He moved behind her, and wrapped his arms around to help lift the wood. 

Lily felt her breath catch. "Thanks." She whispered and dropped the wood into the fire. She turned around quickly to find his arms still around her. 

They stood there for what could have been a lifetime, a moment or a year. And then time seemed to speed up and yet slow down all at once. James was painfully aware of how close she was. Of how her breath landed softly on his neck. Lily looked up quickly, and suddenly, neither was exactly sure how, their lips met and nothing had ever felt so right. 


	5. Oh the Fire's Slowly Dying

**Let It Snow**

_Chapter One: Oh the Fire is Slowly Dying_

Quote: Speak when you are angry--and you will make the best speech you'll ever regret. **Laurence J. Peter (1919 - 1988)**

 ****

**A/N – Sorry, I know it's short but the next few are going to be. Review!**

Lily usually had a pretty good conception of time but she didn't have the slightest clue how long she and James had been kissing. It had started innocently, gently, lovingly but had quickly turned passionate and intense. They had moved from the fireplace and were moving slowly to the bed. Bit by bit, clothing began to come off: first Lily's sweater, then James' sweatshirt, then his polo. Lily had made out many, many times before but it had never been like this. She had never felt like this before, like she was being lit on fire, like she couldn't get close enough. James lifted her onto the bed, and Lily felt the letters under her. She arched her back to get her hand under to brush away the letters from Sirius…._Sirius_. **SIRIUS!**

"Sirius!" Lily cried and broke away from James. 

"What?!?" James asked. "I'm James." 

"No…Sirius." She pointed to the letters strewn carelessly on the floor. 

_Sirius._                                      _Adelle._

James suddenly felt like a leaden weight had been dropped into his stomach. What was he doing? He looked at Lily in panic and back away quickly as though to distance himself from the crime. 

"What are we doing?" James asked softly, and then glanced at the door quickly as though he expected Sirius and Adelle to burst in at any moment catch them, red handed. 

"I don't know?" Lily said, looking very lost. 

"Well how did this start?" James demanded hotly, shame coloring his face and filling his chest. 

"Why are you asking me?" Lily asked, suddenly feeling very defensive. "You're the one who kissed me."

"Kissed you? No way, you kissed me. I would never do that to Sirius." James said, though even he didn't seem totally convinced.

"Well you did." Lily said shortly and jumped to the floor to get her sweater which she put on very quickly. James, suddenly aware of his bare chest, put on his polo. 

"And so what if I did?" James suddenly burst out not even sure of what he was saying. 

"What?" Lily asked her voice dangerously quiet. "So what if you did?" Her voice slowly rising. "He's you best friend and my boyfriend. And need I remind you of Adelle. Your girlfriend." 

"So what, you're telling me you didn't feel anything at all just now? Nothing?" James demanded, past control or any vestige of feeling for anyone but himself. It was a rare moment of selfishness in James but that few minutes was the first time he'd felt alive in years and he was so scared to lose it. 

"What does it matter if I felt anything or not…there are other people involved here, James." Lily said, her voice steely though inside her heart was bursting to say otherwise, kiss him again, to get that feeling back. 

"What does it matter? It matters a lot!" James said his face suddenly growing very hot.

"Oh really, and why's that?" Lily asked coolly.

"Because I love you damn it!" James burst out.

Suddenly Lily's principles were gone. She felt as though the wind were knocked out of her. "What?" She whispered, suddenly wondering if you were supposed to exhale or not or just inhale. 

"I know it's crazy," James said in a slightly calmer voice. "But I love you. Lily," he turned to her desperately. "You've made me more alive in the last week than I've been in years and I just can't…I just give that up." 

Lily looked at him, suddenly stone cold, terrified to give herself away. "Well you're going to have to. You didn't know I was alive last week and this week I make you feel alive, perhaps next week I'll be dead and then all this will solved." Her voice was smooth as steel but she wondered if he could see how badly her hands were shaking. 

James looked as though he'd been slapped but he stood up and nodded. "Fine." He said and grabbed his sweatshirt. "Just fine." And with that he walked out the door without another word. The door was barely shut before Lily burst into tears. 

                                                            ******

"I'm sure she's fine, Sirius, will you please go to bed." Adelle said sleepily and Sirius strode the length of the room for the tenth time. 

"I just hope James is nice to her, he's never liked her very much." Sirius said, his voice tight as he went over the possibilities. 

"I'm sure he is. James is very charming, you know. "Adelle said and gave a great yawn. 

"Yes, I know." Sirius said darkly, a whole new host of possibilities entering his head. 

"Let it go, Sirius, it's late and we'll see them in a few days." She said. 

Sirius paused in his walk for a moment before nodding. "Yeah…okay." He said reluctantly and strode to the couch. 

"Besides," Adelle added with a smile. "We have a big day tomorrow; we've got to take advantage of all that Italy has to offer. It's not every country where you find the drinking age is just the suggestion!"

"Here, Here!" Sirius said. 

And with that happy thought, both Sirius and Adelle drifted to sleep with thoughts of wine, and run dancing in their heads.  Neither aware of how wrong they really were.


	6. But My Dear, We're Still Goodbying

**Let It Snow**

_Chapter Six: But My Dear, We're Still Good-Bying_

Quote: I would rather be a coward than brave because people hurt you when you are brave. **E. M. Forster (1879 - 1970), as a small child**

Lily Evans had never been so confused in her entire life. Once she had stopped crying, (a feat all its own) she began to try to sort through what was going on. She knew that kissing James had been fundamentally wrong, but then that left her with the rather uncomfortable question of why it had felt so right. She tried to piece together how it had happened but all she couldn't separate herself enough from the situation to get any real perspective. 

And then there were her feelings. James had said he loved her..._loved… _not liked or thought was pretty, but loved and as much as Lily wished she could deny it, she felt something that could not be identified, something that could only be call love. She thought she knew what love was, she thought she loved Sirius…but this…what she felt…was so totally different than anything she had felt before. She knew she felt very strongly for Sirius, cared very deeply for him, but there was no urgency in that caring…no passion. The longer Lily thought on it, the more she realized what she felt for Sirius was more akin to what she felt for her sister before she had come to Hogwarts, than what she felt for James. 

But why was she feeling anything at all for James? She had barely known him, really known him, for more than a week. It was crazy, unheard of, ridiculous…and yet…when he kissed her… 

Sirius…what was she going to do about Sirius? Had she ever felt for him as she now did for James? Was there once this sort of excitement and desire and it had settled into a calmer relationship over time? Or had it always been this way, and Lily, naïve, had mistaken companionship for chemistry? 

She was going in circles, and at the end of the night, when the fire had died out and James still had not returned, there was only one thing she was sure of…No matter what she might feel for James, the hard fact remained that James was Sirius' best friend and Sirius, when no one else but Adelle would give her the time of day, had shown interest in her. He had seen her when no one else would and had seen what no one else would. She owed everything to him. He had built her up, made her believe in herself and she owed it to him to build _him_ up, not bring him down. Even if losing Lily would have been bearable for Sirius, she would not, could not, allow him to be hurt by James too. He was a good person and he deserved better than that. 

She had James were going to forget about this whole thing. 

                                                *****

James Potter caught a glimpse of himself in a window shop and grimaced. He looked absolutely terrible. He had never, in his entire life, been in worse situation. When his parents had died he had felt like he had died too, but no matter how terrible it was…no matter how long it took him to heal, he always took comfort in the fact that what had happened had happened and no one could change things. But this…he had control over this…and he was responsible for the consequences. 

_"What does it matter if I felt anything or not…there are other people involved here, James." Lily had said._

Her words were ringing over and over and over again in his ears. The words weren't meant to hurt, but they stung him and badly. _There are other people involved here. _His actions affected other people's happiness. What a foreign and terrifying concept. What he did not only mattered to him but might hurt someone else too. And not just any someone else either. Sirius and Adelle. His best friend and his girlfriend. Such an idea should not have thrown him for a loop as much as it did, and once the shock had settled down, James began to wonder: how long had he been so self-involved? Had he always been this way? Or was it just since his parents had died? 

He tried desperately to remember what he had been like before his parents' deaths but that seemed so very far away from him now, and he didn't entirely trust his memory anyway. He didn't generally think of himself as a selfish person. He was always standing up for wormtail, wasn't he? And he always thought he'd die to help Sirius, and yet, here he was, getting with Sirius' girl. Some friend he turned out to be. 

What was he going to do? It was clear to him now, in the cold night air, despite what he had said in the room that what had gone on couldn't continue, but even so, it wasn't as though it could be undone. What had been done was done, and what's more, was that it felt good, damn good. He wasn't even sure he was upset it had happened. He had felt more in those few minutes than he had felt in seven months with Adelle.

Adelle. Adelle was a good kisser, and beautiful, there was no doubt about that, but this had been so much better. How could he go back to the way things were, knowing how they could have been?

He paused in front of another shop window and with the frost his image was slightly blurred. He looked a little like…a little like…Sirius. 

_Sirius… _that was how he could go back to the way things were, knowing how they could have been. Because no matter how wonderful things between Lily could have been, because of how much Sirius meant to both of them and, more importantly, how much both of them meant to Sirius, he and Lily would never be. 

There was nothing to be done about it, and in that, he took infinite comfort. 

                                                *****

_Thump _Lily's eyes fluttered open. Sunlight streamed into the room and climbed onto her bed, leaving strokes on her bed covers. "James?" she asked sleepily as James looking exhausted and terrible tiptoed into the room. 

"Yes, it's me." He said softly and took off his shoes by the fire. 

"Oh…" said Lily, fully awake now. 

There was a very awkward silence. 

"James look…"                                                "Lily, I…"

They both laughed nervously. 

"You go first." James said.

Lily nodded and took a deep breath, staring at the floor she began. "What happened last night was a mistake…this can't continue, no matter what and I think that no matter what we might feel if anything were to go on, more people would be hurt than it would be worth it to have a go at…at…us." She was speaking very fast. She was silent for a moment before she looked up cautiously at James, whose face was stony. 

He nodded. "I agree." He said and continued to warm his frozen hands by the fire. 

"You do?" Lily asked uncertainly.

"Completely." James said firmly. Lily let out a sigh of relief. 

"So, we're just going to leave tomorrow and everything will be fine." Lily said more to herself than to James and smoothed out the bedspread. 

"If you want to think that, you go right ahead." James said, exhaustion beginning to creep into his voice. 

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lily looked up quickly, suddenly alarmed. 

"Well even if we don't continue it, it doesn't change the fact that it happened does it?" James asked without even looked away from the fire. 

"You mean we're going to tell them?" Lily asked, her voice suddenly becoming very high. 

"You mean we're not?" Said James and he bent down to add another log to the fire. 

"Why should we tell them? It will only upset them and it was a silly, cabin-fever induced mistake!" Lily's face was becoming very red. 

James turned around to face her and raised an eyebrow. "Cabin fever, eh?" he laughed wryly. "Alright, whatever you say, Lil." 

"Well it was!" Lily cried becoming defensive. "At any rate, we can't tell them, we just can't!" Her voice was becoming very shaky and tears were beginning to fill her eyes. She was so tired and so emotionally overwhelmed that she couldn't take this anymore. She couldn't bare the thought of all this, still hurting Adelle and Sirius. What on earth had she stayed up half the night for? Lily burst into tears.

James watched uneasily, unsure of what to do. "Okay, okay, we won't tell them…I promise." He said soothingly. "Everything's going to be just fine." He moved to her and put his arms around her, but feeling that familiar feeling he promptly removed them and began to pat her back awkwardly. "We're doing the right thing, Lily." He said after a moment. 

"I know." She whispered back. "But then, why does it feel so terrible?" 

That was a very good question. 


	7. Oh How I Hate to go Back in the Storm

**Let It Snow**

_Chapter Seven: Oh How I Hate to Go Back in the Storm_

**Quote: **The heart wants what it wants.... There's no logic to those things.- Woody Allen 

The next morning they were packed and on the morning train out of Zermatt. Lily wished they could just floo back to school, but the hotel wasn't connected to the network. Once the arrived at the station they were going to signal the knight bus, in the mean time, they had several hours to kill. Lily leaned back and watched the scenery, only half interested in what she saw. The country side moved quickly, too quickly Lily felt, and yet, as she sat in silence with James, perhaps not quickly enough. 

                                                            *****

"Oh good you're up! I just owled my mum and dad," Adelle said as she walked through their hotel door to suitcases strewn about the room. "to let them know we'd probably be at the station in time for Hogwarts Express."

Sirius grunted in reply and placed his sweater into the suitcase. 

"What's with you?" Adelle asked as she reached for the light switch and a fluorescent glow filled the molding room. 

"Jesus Adelle! Turn that off!" Sirius cried, clutching his head. 

A small smile played on her lips. "Someone had a little too much vodka last night, huh?" she asked, amused.

He grunted again. 

"I tell you sweetheart, as fun as you are when the drinking the stuff, after the fact you are such a bore." Adelle tossed him a bottle of water. "Drink this, you'll feel better."

"Thanks." He mumbled.

They packed in silence for a moment. 

"Done." Adelle said proudly and shut her suitcase closed with a snap. 

"Ahh." Sirius moaned softly. "I'm never drinking again."

Adelle just smiled remembering the night's events. "Sure sweetheart." 

                                                                        *****

Kings Cross Station was absolutely bursting with muggles who were returning home after the holidays. Adelle and Sirius had to fight the crowd milling between platforms just to get close enough to platform nine to fall through. Holding their trolleys firmly, they leaned casually against the barrier, stumbled through to find Platform nine and three quarters was already filled with Hogwarts students. 

"Do you see them?" Adelle asked after a moment of searching the crowd. 

Sirius shook his head, but just then he saw a flash of auburn hair. "There they are!" he said pointing some twenty yards down the platform. He grinned happily. "Oi! James! LILY!" he cried. 

James and Lily whirled around and waved in response as they made their way slowly through the crowds.

"Don't look too happy, do they?" Adelle asked, eyebrows raised as she caught sight of the grimaces on their faces. 

"Must be tired." Sirius said with a shrug as they approached. "Hey sweetheart." He said and enveloped Lily in a hug which she gingerly returned. He kissed her forehead as they pulled apart. "How was your trip?" He asked and took her trolley, unaware of James' stare or subsequent frown. 

Lily managed a smile. "Brilliant." She said weakly, all too aware of James' stare. 

"Good." He said and turned to James. "'lo Prongs." He grinned at his friend and patted him on the back. 

"'lo." He said avoiding eye contact and quickly turning to Adelle, who pecked him on the cheek. 

"How was your holiday?" he asked and reached out to take one of her bags. 

"I've got it, thanks." She said and held onto her bag. "Great we…ah…experienced a lot of culture." She winked at Sirius who smirked.

"By culture she means hangovers." Sirius whispered conspiratorially to Lily. 

"Ahh…" she said and watched as Adelle steered James toward some other friends to say hello. 

"Save us a trolley," Adelle called.

"yeah, sure." Sirius said enthusiastically. 

_Awesome _thought Lily _Just peachy _

                                                                        *****

"You look exhausted, Lil' did you sleep at all sweetie?" Adelle asked, studying Lily for the first time since they had gotten back. 

Lily shrugged. "I had a lot on my mind." She said, without looking up from her suitcase which she was unpacking with unusual care. 

"Did you and James get along, you guys seemed very strange on the train." Adelle asked, watching Lily. 

Lily suddenly felt her heart give a strange flutter. "Um…well…not at first, but we…uh…er…learned to live with each other." Lily's heart was beating very fast and she was sure her face was bright red. After a moment she looked up to see Adelle still staring at her, and Lily's already red face turned neon. 

"Lily you can tell me the truth." Adelle said softly. 

Lily's heart was beating painfully now. She vaguely wondered it Adelle could hear it. 

"If you didn't get along babe, its not a big deal." Lily began to calm and let her defenses down. "You don't have to be embarrassed. James can be a real prick sometimes." She spoke with a kindness and a patience that no one but Lily ever saw. She had a real soft spot for her shy friend and was never harsh with her like she was with everyone else. She understood that Lily was hard enough on herself without Adelle's added influence. 

"Oh no! He was wonderful" She burst out and her eyes grew wide. 

Adelle looked at her with something between amusement and alarm. "Wonderful, was he?" she asked wryly. She shook her head. "I don't know what's going on here, Lily, but whatever it is, you sure are acting weird. 

                                                            *****

"Hello James." Lily said stiffly as she sat next to him at breakfast. 

"Lily." He said with a curt nod. They sat in silence for a minute. 

"Where's Sirius?" Lily asked. James felt as though a knife had been plunged through his stomach. 

"Sirius and Remus are trying to help Peter." He said and poured himself some pumpkin juice. He grinned faintly. "He hexed himself again." 

Lily grinned. "Really?" she asked and gave a giggle. "What did he do this time?" 

James shook his head. "Bloody idiot gave himself a dog snout." He grinned fuller this time and glanced at Lily shyly. 

She caught his look and blushed. Lily suddenly forgot what she was going to say. She struggled desperately when suddenly Sirius and Remus showed up, saving her from any need for a response. 

"How's wormtail?" James asked, his voice unusually high and looking rather skittish. Remus watched his friend with interest. James seemed to be looking everywhere but at Sirius and Lily and Lily was staring determinedly at her plate. 

"Fine." Sirius said, "or at least he will be. We dropped him off at the hospital wing." He stared at his friend for a moment. "Hey did you guys have a row or something?" Sirius asked. 

Lily and James looked at each other in alarm, blushed and looked away. "NO." they both said quickly, to quickly. 

"I should go check on Adelle." Lily said and pulled away from the table. "I told her I'd wake her up for classes." She hurried away and out the door without another word.

"That was bizarre." Sirius said and watched her go incredulously. "What's going on?" 

James shrugged. "Who knows mate." He said, struggling to be natural and painfully conscious of Remus' probing eyes. 

Sirius seemed satisfied though and shrugged. "Women." He said. "I'll check on her later." And with that he started on a spirited conversation about broomsticks with Jenny Patil, leaving only Remus aware of James' silence. 

                                                            *****

The days past and James and Lily's behavior continued to be strange, though the nature of the strangeness changed. At first they had seemed to be embarrassed by each other's presence, now they only seemed preoccupied and, in Lily's case, distant. James suddenly started going out of his way to do nice things for Sirius and Adelle, much to Adelle's annoyance. She and James had once had a very casual relationship and now James suddenly was the most clingy boyfriend in the school. He seemed to be constantly concerned about her state of my mind and desires. Only Lily knew he was trying to ease a guilty conscience. Finally in a fit of confusion, one day, he decided that he needed to clear his thoughts. He wrapped himself up in his warmest cloak and headed outside. 

For Lily's part she was so confused. No matter how bad she felt, no matter how wrong she knew it was, she still dreamt of James, of that night. When she and Sirius made out, she found herself thinking of James and in class, when her mind wandered it was to James. She was wretched. Sirius had been nothing but good to her and all she could think about was James. 

Remus had watched all the events unfold with interest and concern. He knew something had happened over vacation which he had not been aware of. He watched Sirius and Adelle unfold their adventures with great zeal and watched the normally competitive James reveal tidbits only when directly questioned. On the day that James had decided to get some air, Remus had been sitting in the common room studying by the window. After a particularly straining bit on the transformation of pixies, he found his eyes wandering. He caught site of James walking alone in the quad and decided to join him. He had had quite enough of transfiguration for one day.

"Oi, James! Wait up!" Remus called as he raced out the west door. 

James whirled to find Remus and she smiled. Of all the Gryffindors in their year, Remus was the only one he could deal with today. "'lo Remus." he said pleasantly and waited for him to catch up. "How are you?" he asked. 

"Exhausted, I hate transfiguration." He said. "How are you?" 

"Fine," James answered automatically and tossed a stick into the freshly fallen snow.

"Really?" Remus asked skeptically. 

"Really." James said, though he sounded less than convinced. 

Remus nodded. "How are things with Adelle?" he asked, trying to delve into James' melancholy.

James shrugged. "fine." He said but less than enthusiastically. 

Remus nodded. "How are things with Lily?" he asked. 

James glanced at him at him in alarm. "What?"

Remus didn't answer. 

James at first seemed ready to deny it but instead, just as his shoulders began to puff up he let out a deep, long sigh and suddenly looked very tired. "How'd you guess?" James asked and sat down on the nearest long. 

"Wasn't hard, mate." He said. "Blushing when she's around, always trying to be extra nice to Sirius. You've got to tell him." Remus added gently. 

"I can't tell him." James said resolutely, yet distantly almost to himself. "We promised we wouldn't."

Now it was Remus' turn to look alarmed. "We?" he asked incredulously. "Whoa, wait a second. I think we're talking about different things here!"

"Well what were you talking about?" James asked.

"You having a crush on Lily. What are you talking about?" 

James laughed bitterly. "Crush on Lily? Oh Moony, I'm afraid that's not the half of it." 

Remus stared at him unsure of what to say. James had caught him completely off guard. 

James took his silence as permission to continue.  "Lily and I hooked up in Zermatt." James said dully staring of into the distance. 

"Define 'hooked up'." Remus said cautiously. 

"Snogged, made out, kissed." He was completely emotionless. 

"Oh." Remus said heavily after a moment. "I see." 

James shrugged. Remus stared at him hard before a realization dawned on him. 

"It wasn't just a hook up, was it? You have feelings for each other too, don't you?" Remus asked, seeing a bad situation quickly worsen. 

James nodded. "So, there you have it." 

"James," Remus said quietly yet urgently. "You have to tell him." 

"Tell him?" James laughed acidly. "Right. 'Lo there Padfoot, I snogged your girlfriend and I think I'm in love with her. You don't mind, do you? I knew you'd understand." James turned to Remus. "Can you just imagine that?" 

"How did this happen James?" Remus asked. 

James shrugged. "I have no idea. It's completely crazy, I know. But she's different than any girl I've ever know, I was just too blind to realize it." James seemed very sad at this moment as ran through all the what ifs in his minds. What if he had noticed her before Sirius? What if Sirius had never fallen for her…what if…

"What are you going to do?" Remus asked. 

James shrugged for what felt like the millionth time in his life. "What else is there to do?" he asked. 

Remus sighed. "I don't know James, I don't know." 

                                                                        *****

Sirius was sitting in the corner of the common room feeling absolutely wretched. Strange things had been happening for a few weeks now but he was becoming increasingly aware that something was off but it was until last night that he knew something very wrong had gone on between James and Lily, because last night, when he had been with Lily she had moaned. Which would been absolutely fine, except she moaned someone else's names. Not just anyone else's either, but James'. "James." She had moaned. He remembered the scene vividly. 

He had kissed her neck and began to move down her body. "ah…" she had moaned softly, Sirius looked up, and then continued what he was doing, "James…" she moaned and Sirius, so engrossed in what he was doing didn't even process it at first but by the time he had, it was too late to stop. 

The word had been barely audible, but he had caught it and he played it over and over and over in his mind, feeling as though his heart had been ripped out and stomped on. He had barely slept last night as he had run though the last few weeks in his mind. Now he watched from the shadows as his best friend stared shamelessly at his girlfriend who was working in front of the fire. Suddenly it all made sense.  

Lily and James were hooking up behind his back and he was going to kill them.  The only question that remained, was which one?


	8. But If You Really Hold Me Tight

Let it Snow

_Chapter eight: But if You Really Hold Me Tight_

 Quote: The most difficult thing that you can do is to watch the person you love love someone else.   
--Unknown

Sirius clawed his way through James' trunk. There had to be something here, some kind of proof. A letter, a trinket, something.

"Then the Prat gave me extra homework!" Peter whined as he opened the door.

"Well-" Remus stopped abruptly at the sight of Sirius. "alright there, buddy?" he asked warily.

Sirius looked up eyes wild. "Where's James?" He cried, as though he hadn't even heard Remus.

Remus and Peter exchanged looks. "I don't know." Remus said slowly as he desperately tried to work out how long he had before James came back to calm down Sirius. "What do you want him for?" he asked.

Peter started make for the door but, without taking his eyes off of Sirius, Remus grasped him by the collar and pulled him back.

"Want him for??" Sirius gave a bitter laugh. "I don't _want _him for anything. He's done quite enough on his own."

"Sirius, I really think you should just calm down and tell us what's going on." Remus forced himself to speak in even tones but he was beginning to panic.

Sirius shut James trunk rather violently, having found nothing, and moved towards the door, wand in hand. "Move aside Remus." He said.

"Sirius calm down! What is going on?" Remus drew his own wand. In the corner, Peter cowered.

"Going on? I'll tell you exactly what's _going on, _my "best friend" is getting with my girlfriend." Sirius was red in the face. A mixture of anger, resentment and mostly pain filled him and threatened to overcome him.

Peter gasped and Remus' eyes grew wide. "Did he tell you that?" Remus asked slowly, feeling out the situation.

"He didn't have to!" Sirius said, anger overcoming all his other emotions. He tried to move past Remus again, but Remus wand remained held high.

"He didn't have to?" Remus repeated lamely. "I see. So you just _know _that Lily and James are going behind your back?"

Sirius blushed and pushed Remus aside, completely ignoring the wand in his hand. He heard laughter down the hall. Lily's laughter. He rushed down the hall.

"Sirius wait!" Remus said as he pulled himself off the ground and followed him to the stairs.

Sirius had stopped dead at the top of the stairs. Remus came behind him, Peter in tow, and followed his gaze. Lily and James were laughing together in the firelight. The light danced off of her red hair and her eyes danced in a way Sirius had never seen. She had never laughed that deeply for him or sat so relaxed. James looked truly happy for the first time since his parents death. He was watching Lily talk, watching her in a way Sirius knew all too well, a look he'd worn oh so many times over the past two years.  A piece of hair fell into her face and he watched somewhere between horrified and amazed as James brushed it away and shy Lily didn't shy away.

"They're not getting together, mate." Remus said softly.

"But they want to." Sirius said. It wasn't a question.

Suddenly Sirius felt very sick. The kind of sickness that only afflicts good people. Good people who are in love. "I need a minute."

Remus nodded and watched him walk back to the dorm. Sirius went to his dorm and grabbed his broomstick, his wand falling to the floor. He flew out the window without another thought.

"Lily, can we talk?" Sirius asked. He had shadows under his eyes and his voice seemed heavy, different, older.

Lily noticed the change immediately. He clearly hadn't slept in days. "Of course." She said quickly and shut her book. She followed him to a windowsill in a deserted section of the common room. Outside the snow fell softly and silently. Unconsciously, she shivered.

"What's going on?" she asked, searching his eyes for some clue. But he was closed off.

"I've given this a lot of thought." He began and Lily immediately began to feel colder than she ever had before. She knew where this was going. "and you've meant so much to me for so long…I think…" he took a deep breath and steadied himself to say the words he'd heard echoing in his head for days. "…we've grown apart recently…"

Lily heard herself recoil at the words.

"…I think we should see other people." He was finished but the silence was even heavier that the words. Lily was screaming inside for someone to make sense of the situation. To give her an explanation but Sirius had already gotten up to leave and as she heard herself say 'ok' he walked away. Half of Lily had shriveled up and died. The other half was rejoicing. On the inside, she wished she'd never been born. On the outside she stared venomously at the snow.

_Let it snow_ she thought bitterly _snow's what got me into this mess so snow away._

"James I broke up with Lily today." Sirius said, he voice as nonchalant as humanly possible.

James dropped his broomstick. "You what?"

"Oh yeah, dropped the bitch. Got sick of her." He said casually and gave a laugh. "Two years is really too long for anyone."

James was staring at him in disbelief. "Were you guys having problems?" he asked cautiously.

Sirius took an internal breath and grinned at James. "Us, nope. I just saw a really cute Ravenclaw, you know, Sarah Hornbach, and thought I might hit that up."

James continued to stare at him. "I see." He said, his mind working it all out. "So you're okay?" he said.

"Me, oh yeah, I'm fine." Sirius said and grinned again.

They sat in silence for a minute as James processed everything and built up his courage.

"So you're totally over her." James said, watching Sirius hopefully.

Inside Sirius smiled bitterly. On the outside he shrugged casually. "Oh, yeah totally. Why? You want a go?"

James shrugged. "Maybe." He said, testing the water.

Sirius smiled. "Go for it."

"Really?" James looked up in shock.

Sirius nodded.

"Lily!" James called, his voice tight from cold. Lily whirled around. Snow all over her eyelashes and hair.

"James." She said and waited for him to trot over.

"I just talked to Sirius. He told me…I mean….he's okay with…will you go to Hogsmeade with me?" he finished lamely.

Lily stared at him emotionless. "What about Adelle."

"I just broke up with her. I'm sure she wont care." He said, still breathless, watching her hopefully.

Lily couldn't deny that. She probably didn't care. "Hogsmeade." She repeated after a minute, a smile finally beginning to play on her lips. "You're inviting me to Hogsmeade. Little lame after Zermatt, wouldn't you say?"

James' face began to fall. Lily stepped forward and took his face in her hands. She drew him close and kissed him, guilt free and refreshed.

All around them the snow fell.

"You did a good thing." Adelle said as she put her hand on Sirius' back. Below them in the courtyard James and Lily kissed in the snow.

"I know." He said heavily.

"You know what you need?" Adelle asked, taking his arm and leading him away from the window.

"No, What's that?"

"A drink. You my friend need a drink and I know just the kind, too." Adelle led him to the one eyes witch.

Sirius smiled sadly. "A drink sounds really nice. Really nice.


	9. All the Way Home I'll Be Warm

Let it Snow

Epilogue: All the Way Home I'll be Warm

Quotes: Love is an exploding cigar we willingly smoke. **Lynda Barry**

When you reliquish the desire to control your future, you can have more happiness.

**Nicole Kidman, in The Scotsman**

_A long December and there's reason to believe   
Maybe this year will be better than the last_

"Surprise!" James cried and pulled his hands from Lily's eyes. Lily gasped and began to giggle uncontrollably. He had charmed her room to have snow flakes fall softly, and evaporate before they melted on the floor. In the center of a room a stood an enchanted Christmas tree. On the very top, where a star should have stood been there was an ornament. James followed her gaze. "Why don't you look at it?" he suggested. Lily glanced at him suspiciously as snow fell softly on her cheeks and eye lashes.

"Oh James." She gasped and held it in her hand disbelievingly. It was round and cream with light splashing the outside in different colors, always different never the same. The light seemed to form a pattern though and it seemed to swirl in the center. Lily felt herself drawn to it and felt her finger touch the very center of the swirl softly. The ornament promptly split in half and swung open. Inside was a perfect replica of the Sistine chapel  and The School of Athens. Lily's eyes swelled with tears. "James I don't even know what to say. This is –" she turned and smiled widely at him. "Absolutely beautiful."

James was like a child in a broom shop. "-and it changes to whatever painting you want! Even sculptures!" He drew his wand and whispered something and tapped each half of the ornament. Instantly the Mona Lisa and John the Baptist appeared.

Lily tore her eyes away from the gift and threw her arms roughly around James. He held her close and kissed her hair. "Merry Christmas Lily."

"Merry Christmas James."

I can't remember the last thing that you said as you were leaven'   
Now the days go by so fast

"CONGRATULATIONS!!" Adelle cried and threw her hands in the air.

"Its official," Sirius said and struggled with the bottle of champagne. "We're graduates"

"Give me that." Adelle said and opened it with a pop as it fizzed everywhere. She poured Remus, Peter, and Sirius a glass and then poured herself one. "To -"  
 

"No classes!" Cried Remus.

"To not having homework." Adelle said and put her class up.

"To no curfew." Said Sirius his class highest of them all.

"To no more teachers!" Peter added and put his glass up.

"Hear, Hear."

"I'll drink to that."

"Amen."

They all knocked back the glass and looked at each other brightly.   
                                                          

 _And the feeling that it's all a lot of oysters, but no pearls  
All at once you look across a crowded room  
To see the way that light attaches to a girl _

James sighed and walked into the room somewhere between exhausted and annoyed.

He hated these stupid work functions. Lily detached herself from his arm and took her coat to the checker. James shrugged and figured he might as well go get some drinks. He pushed his way through the crowd giving his customary hello, how are you, nasty weather lately etc. It took him a full fifteen minutes to even get the butterbeers and once he had them he couldn't even find Lily. Tonight was even drearier than usual as people whispered darkly about the-One-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.

Then he saw her.

She was nodding earnestly as Adam Heckler spoke at length. She felt his gaze on her and she looked over, caught his eye and winked before turning back to Heckler and his never ending story.

That was it. There was something about the way she looked tonight combined with a feeling of urgency that was permeating the wizarding community. James decided in that moment that he had been holding this off too long. He was going to ask Lily to marry him.

Tonight

Now, even, if Heckler would let him get a word in.   

_And it's one more day up in the canyons   
And it's one more night in __Hollywood__  
_ 

"Sirius, this place is kind of seedy." Peter said, eyeing the bar cautiously.

"Don't be such a sod, Wormtail." Sirius said and pushed open the door. Peter looked to Remus for support but Remus had just spotted a pretty brunette in the corner and was well behind Peter's pleas. For Sirius' sake, he was already deep in conversation with two very dull but very beautiful girls, a blonde and a redhead.

Peter sighed and sat down at the bar. "One butterbeer." He said mournfully. The bartender grunted and handed him a rather unclean glass.

"You come here by yourself?" A woman on his right asked. She was striking and Peter was immediately afraid.

He shook his head and nodded miserably and Remus and then at Sirius. "They always do that." He explained.

"They don't seem like very good friends to me." The woman said. "Another butterbeer for the man."

10 butterbeers later

"They're not good friends. They always go off with these …woman and leave me. Just like James!" he put his mug down rather sloppily. The woman was eyeing him with disgust and contempt but bought him another beer.

"James? Who's James?" She asked, keeping her voice carefully modulated. She had a very good idea of who James was, especially since this imbecile who cost her 11 butterbeers had come in with Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

"James Potter," He said slurring his words.

The woman grinned. "Mr. Pettigrew…I know exactly what you need."

Peter looked up limply from his drink. "You do?" he asked rather incoherently.

She nodded smartly. "I do indeed. Come with me."

   
_And talked a little while about the year   
I guess the winter makes you laugh a little slower,  
Makes you talk a little lower _

"I asked her to marry me." James said all at once to an already awkward silence. Three very confused faces stared back at him.

"You what?" Remus asked.

"I asked Lily to marry me on Friday and she said yes." James said again searching the faces of his three best friends for some support.

Sirius was the first to recover. "That's great, mate." He said slowly. "But marriage? You're only nineteen. Don't you want to wait until you're a grown up."

"I am a grownup and why delay the inevitable?" James said and singled to Rosmerta for another drink.

Sirius looked to Remus for help but he just shrugged and Peter was carefully watching his drink. Sirius shook his head. "Alright then." He grinned. "Congratulations buddy." He patted James gruffly on the back.

They fell back into an uneasy silence.

James sighed. "It's just these are uncertain times and I don't want to waste any time. You never know if you'll get it back again."

Remus nodded. "Fair enough…congratulations!"

Peter nodded. "Congrats Prongs. It's going to be one hell of a Christmas."

"It's going to be one hell of a year." Sirius added grimly, eye half on the Daily Prophet and the death it reported.

_And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe   
Maybe this year will be better than the last   
  
_

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." The priest spoke and a great cheer went up and James pulled Lily close and kissed her. Adelle watched adoringly and Sirius grinned though he felt a little pang. Even still, when he got with half of London on a daily basis, Sirius remembered what it was like to kiss Lily. He was James' best friend, this was true, but he loved _both _of them more than anyone could ever know. He watched them walk triumphantly down the aisle and felt his smile falter slightly.

"How about a drink. I know I could use one." A voice whispered from behind. Sirius turned and grinned at Adelle.

"A drink." He said. "Would be great."

_I can't remember all the times I tried to tell my myself   
To hold on to these moments as they pass _

Adelle stared at the old roster of the Order of Pheonix in shock. Sirius, dead. Lily, dead. Longbottoms, dead. James, dead. Remus, a ghost of his former self. She had been in France since the Potters death running her fathers banking empire and growing even wealthier off of the peace their deaths wrought.

She looked at the picture Remus had sent of Harry. It sent shivers down her spine. It was James reincarnated. Creepy really.

Slowly a tear crept down the ice queen's face. She had hidden from her life for too long, it was about time she went home.

She smiled and walked out of her office into the warm afternoon sunlight.

Adelle had a train to catch

and this time, there would be no avalanche to keep her from her destination.


End file.
